So, I decided to try my hand at doing a fan comic of Jethro and Monty... we shall see how this goes. Thought it'd be better to start a new thread as the other one was more for concept work and random illustrations of the two.

I've got a few other projects I need to knock over before getting this going proper, but here's the first few pages as a sort of teaser (full res versions are linked off the titles since the pics don't seem to be displaying well in the spoiler box):

Hooray, comics! The fusion of pictures and words into a finer form of art.

Triela's Transformers T-shirt is a nice nod to your older work.

I like the fish-eye perspective in the first panel, and the shading in general - while the Sin City-esque sort of two-tone shading can be quite stylish, it doesn't belong everywhere and making shadows colourful is a good change of pace.

Monty should be showing some sign of injury to justify Triela's mention of the "medical wing" - something like missing a finger (shot off in last gunfight) which is a small detail in size and shape but nonetheless quite striking and significant; the fact that Monty's completely ignoring it would also be a subtle hint of the nature of the cyborgs to readers who aren't so familiar with GSG.

Monty's certainly snappily-dressed.

Little nitpick on page two - "Padina", should spell "Padania".

I like the montage on page two, it's good to integrate all of the details into a single complete scene.

The rounded corners of the final panel in page two almost give it a Sixties vibe - makes me feel as though I'm looking at old projector slides!

And the Bahamas... beats rooting through the garbage for a document drop on the Moldovan culture minister's dinner plans, eh?

I'm looking forward to seeing this develop - and I agree that the casino heist sounds like good fun. The Italian Prime Minister's in a bind: unless the Treasury can pull fifty million euros out of its ass his government can't balance the budget, and it's an election year... "Lorenzo, old buddy! How many of your cyborgs are free this weekend?"

@Robert Frazer wrote:I like the fish-eye perspective in the first panel, and the shading in general - while the Sin City-esque sort of two-tone shading can be quite stylish, it doesn't belong everywhere and making shadows colourful is a good change of pace.

Yeah, for this shot I wanted to make Monty look really, really small, but without loosing who it was. Fisheye's one of the ways I know of to do that. As for the shadows: colourful shadows are the only sort I know how to do I've tried using Marvel-esque shading before, and it turned out OK I guess, but it'd definately something I'd need time to work on before using it in anger.

@Robert Frazer wrote:Monty should be showing some sign of injury to justify Triela's mention of the "medical wing" - something like missing a finger (shot off in last gunfight) which is a small detail in size and shape but nonetheless quite striking and significant; the fact that Monty's completely ignoring it would also be a subtle hint of the nature of the cyborgs to readers who aren't so familiar with GSG.

I guess the way I'd pictured it she'd been in for a patch-up and cut the end off her recovery period. Originally I did have a mention of her "patching up faster" by virtue of not being as highly tuned as the other girls, but it felt like to much info too fast. However you're right here, she does need some visual cue as well.

Haha, one thing I'm playing with for Monty's character is that she's ALWAYS (misson requirements not-withstanding) well dressed. 4am emergency scramble order? Monty will be in a suit (slim-cut, Mod/Rat-pack style)... she probably keeps one in reserve just incase, it's all part of how she presents herself to the world Honestly at 2am she could probably stand to be a little more casual, but the way I see her day doing was something like: woken up in the hospital, told by Jethro there was fresh intel in, dressed for a briefing... and never got around to changing again.

... you're right. I'm going to go crawl into my little corner of GSG-fanboy-shame now and change it immediately.

@Robert Frazer wrote:And the Bahamas... beats rooting through the garbage for a document drop on the Moldovan culture minister's dinner plans, eh?

Damn skippy

@Robert Frazer wrote:I'm looking forward to seeing this develop - and I agree that the casino heist sounds like good fun. The Italian Prime Minister's in a bind: unless the Treasury can pull fifty million euros out of its ass his government can't balance the budget, and it's an election year... "Lorenzo, old buddy! How many of your cyborgs are free this weekend?"

With some luck I'm intending to run that arc straight off the Prologue as a result of info Jethro and Monty pick up along the way... at which point Lorenzo's probably going to turn around and tell them that the Agency will fund it (once Jethro's given him a rundown on possible "return on investment") but there's no-way-in-hell he's giving "Jethro Ocean" personel as well. It'll be a good chance hopefully to explore a little of Jethro's criminal-in-Her-Majesty's-service past. Also it means I get to give Jethro the extra headache of having to plan his heist without revealing Monty's true nature.

Thinking about it though, I wonder if the chase scene might be a better immediate follow-up - dodging bullets and vaulting over buildings would give Monty more of an opportunity to showcase her superhuman cyborg abilities (sort of in the way Henrietta chased after the Sicilian purse-snatcher in the series, albeit on a grander scale). That said, though, as you say keeping the cyborg's state under wraps is an adventure in and of itself - and at a pinch she can carry all those heavy bags of swag! - so there's good reasons for each type of plot strand.

r repertoire of superhuman skills, just she and Jethro are going to need to come up with a plausible explination for it (I'm forseeing some dummy Q-branch type gear).

I guess, it really comes down to which sides of the fratello I want to show first. The Casino job seemed good to start with because... well first up it's a bunch of fun. I love crime-caper films and the casino job is a classic, it also lets Jethro take the lead a bit.

I guess the other thing is that it's a bit of a point of difference. I mean, we've seen the girls run, jump, shoot, fight... part of the Jethro/Monty pair's MO, to me anyway, is that generally Monty's superhuman powers serve as more of a fallback position rather than a first choice. So if everything goes wrong, or if there's no other way to achieve an objective: then the cyborg powers get rolled out. Otherwise they get by be being sneaky little [insert explitive of choice here].

Hitting a casino rather than killing a mark also is a way of making the point that only a limited number of the fratello's jobs may actually involve killing folks (on purpose at least). Probably a solid half of the stuff they get up to in focused on doing economic damage to the Padanians.

If I play the cards right (no pun intended) it should lead neatly into a more spy oriented arc anyway.

In other news: It's starting to dawn on me just how much work I've set myself with this one

Though last I checked Kara and Co. aren't adverse to taking the odd holiday from time to time right?

To be honest I've only got the basics of what's going to happen so far. Figure I need to plan the heist first (about 50% done), then work out what personel Jethro needs to round up, initial planning will probably see no Agency folks present... then I need to figure out what's going to go wrong, how to solve the problems... and what emergency phonecalls Jethro may need to make.

Yes, I know the Fairmont is a hotel, not a casino... taking some artistic license here

Also Marisa and Elio make their first appearance. Many thanks to Voodoo for letting me borrow them.

So, it seems that, once I get to drawing it takes me about four days to do a page... add a bit to do text. Could probably cut it down to two... but I'm not that focused. Now I've got to start planning the next chapter in earnest. It will hopefully be a bit more together and longer. That will however, obviously take awhile though.

Finally got the next issue of Jethro + Monty finished. I won't be posting it here like I did the prologue. Why, because I'm too LAZY. The deviantART version already has funky little forward and back tabs setup and stuff so...

Particular thanks go to Professor Voodoo for letting me borrow Foreplay for this one too, and for his help on diving aparatus.

Hopefully the next issue shouldn't take quite as long, but I'm not holding my breath. Also considering just going to toned work rather than colour in an effort to speed things up.

Glocks are not the shit. Glocks can fail the same as any other gun. I've seen it personally, and have even heard first-hand accounts of something as basic as a slide-retaining pin snapping, the slide flying off. Get over the obsession and buy what fits your hand, your wallet, and ability.

"I am the sword of justiceForged by fate and tempered with timeI have struggled to stay true to his dreams and idealsNever knowing defeatNor victoryForever waiting for his returnThis is my, Infinite Sword Dance"

You posted the prologue? Did I miss that? No time to worry about that now...on my way to Deviantart.

My observations shall follow...

Yeah... ages ago. I think it may have got lost in the thread though

Cheers for the comments folks. Just one question, I know the type setting was pretty clunky this time around, but did you find the later pannels easier to read at all? The ones with long blocks of text broken up into smaller sections?

"I am the sword of justiceForged by fate and tempered with timeI have struggled to stay true to his dreams and idealsNever knowing defeatNor victoryForever waiting for his returnThis is my, Infinite Sword Dance"

@Alfisti wrote:[Just one question, I know the type setting was pretty clunky this time around, but did you find the later pannels easier to read at all? The ones with long blocks of text broken up into smaller sections?

Pages 1-2: The use of a monochromatic purple backdrop conveys darkness really well, while still allowing us to see Triela entering. Another classic Monty outfit here...the striped suit with a flowered shirt is cool. Unfortunately, what the hell is Triela wearing!? I know what it is but I thought the dear girl had better taste than that!

Page 4: The dead SISDE agent laying in bed is a nicely understated touch. The fact that Monty does not dwell on her speaks volumes about her frame of mind.

5-6: Is Ebanovich'es use of a bible to attack Monty a reference to canon chapter 4?On page 7, when Ebanovich electrocutes himself during his fight with Monty we see a rare "oh shite" look on her face. It's so out of character for her that when we do get to see her dismayed it's even funnier. Page 8; when she went into the freezer I half though she intended to mix a cocktail. Well, she finally gets her drink on page 9...and we get our first dose of witty Jethro-Monty banter. The girl in the top frame of that page looks a lot like Claes. Interesting & relevant choice of novel for Jethro to read while he waits, although I don't recall Orwell ever conjecturing that cybernetic girls would be used to enforce Big Brother's will.

Page 10 lays out the direction the rest of the story will take. It's very James Bond-ish...a bit of intro, an action sequence, and then on to the plot exposition. I like that you kept it brief...better for details to evolve as the story progresses.As for Elio & Marisa's cameo, I had to laugh...you nailed their reactions. Elio; curiously alert but not overly concerned about what's going on...Marisa; excited by the possibility of something chaotic happening.

Main Story-On pages 0-1 the office doesn't seem all that consistent. Looking out from Lorenzo's desk the room is stark & empty, but looking back at his desk it's filled with shelves, books, and a whisky decanter. Did you do these two drawings at different times?Story-wise, the discussion, and Lorenzo's eventual decision are both great...pass the buck up the chain of command. I imagine Jethro & Monty have gone ahead with their plan anyway by now.

The detailed job you did on the Audi is the highlight of page 3, and I like the sense of motion you got by allowing it to break out of its own frame.

Although Jethro only speaks to one of his old friends on the 4th page it serves as a primer for what he's going to be doing for the rest of the episode. The upraised fist at the right of the last panel is a subtle, funny touch. This is Italy after all.

Page 5: This is the teaser page you gave us earlier. "Blacker Girl"? That one's gonna come back to bite Jethro in the ass. I also note a change of pallets here...a shift to browns and reds that covers almost the whole England portion.

@Professor Voodoo wrote:Pages 1-2: The use of a monochromatic purple backdrop conveys darkness really well, while still allowing us to see Triela entering. Another classic Monty outfit here...the striped suit with a flowered shirt is cool. Unfortunately, what the hell is Triela wearing!? I know what it is but I thought the dear girl had better taste than that!

The Autobots shirt? "In public" I assume she would. The intention with that was to make it look like Triela was just sort of sticking her nose in on the way to or from the showers (though what she's doing over at the mess on the way to the ablutions I've no idea). Everyone else is in bed, or headed that direction... but Monty's still fully dressed and working. Maybe I should have had Triela say something to that effect...

@Professor Voodoo wrote:Page 4: The dead SISDE agent laying in bed is a nicely understated touch. The fact that Monty does not dwell on her speaks volumes about her frame of mind.

Well, it'd hardly be in character for Monty to get worked up I guess in part that's a result of how I see Monty's mind working, she's a very fast problem solver (one of the reasons she gets so grouchy with the world is that she can't understand why it takes everyone else so damn long to come to the conclusion she did hours ago). So if SISIDE lost an agent, then a dead body in the room is going to suprise her even less than usual.

@Professor Voodoo wrote:5-6: Is Ebanovich'es use of a bible to attack Monty a reference to canon chapter 4?

Haha, to be honest: no, I'd forgotten that part. It was just the only heavy-handy object I could think of. Originally I was going to have Ebanovich wallop her with the cistern lid, but decided that shattered porcelain would be too difficult for Monty to clean up in a hurry.

@Professor Voodoo wrote:Well, she finally gets her drink on page 9...and we get our first dose of witty Jethro-Monty banter. The girl in the top frame of that page looks a lot like Claes. Interesting & relevant choice of novel for Jethro to read while he waits, although I don't recall Orwell ever conjecturing that cybernetic girls would be used to enforce Big Brother's will.

Now we know what The Spies were really created for =P

@Professor Voodoo wrote:As for Elio & Marisa's cameo, I had to laugh...you nailed their reactions. Elio; curiously alert but not overly concerned about what's going on...Marisa; excited by the possibility of something chaotic happening.

Ahh, glad I got them right. I always get concerned using other folks' characters that I'll portray them wrong.

@Professor Voodoo wrote:On pages 0-1 the office doesn't seem all that consistent. Looking out from Lorenzo's desk the room is stark & empty, but looking back at his desk it's filled with shelves, books, and a whisky decanter. Did you do these two drawings at different times?

Ah yes, the office... that gave me some issues. At this stage it was taking me about two days to do the line art for each page, so yeah, they were drawn on different days. That said I did go through the manga looking for references of Lorenzo's office. Most of it show's his desk with fairly warm furniture, wood, etc. But there's also a scene where he's talking to Jean at a plate-glass window with some more minimal furniture behind him, so I tried to rectify that as best I could. I guess I also tend to like the idea that government agencies tend to be an ecclectic mix of stuff that's just accumulated over the years.

The whisky decanter I should add is your fault.

@Professor Voodoo wrote:Story-wise, the discussion, and Lorenzo's eventual decision are both great...pass the buck up the chain of command. I imagine Jethro & Monty have gone ahead with their plan anyway by now.

Well the Agency refusing to co-operate has never stopped them before... it just makes things slightly more difficult.

@Professor Voodoo wrote:The detailed job you did on the Audi is the highlight of page 3.

Did I ever mention that Audi makes bitch-difficult to draw cars? Part of me was starting to wish I'd given Jethro something a bit simpler to deal with... like a G-Wagen.

@Professor Voodoo wrote:The upraised fist at the right of the last panel is a subtle, funny touch. This is Italy after all.

I always found it funny in the manga and anime that, whenever vehicles were depicted, it was always quite calm and neatly ordered... which as far as I know isn't what Italy is like at all. I remember EVO's bit on "how to drive in Italy": Watch your front, let everyone else worry about the rest of you. Indicating means "I'm going" not "I'd like to go" and no true Italian wears a seatbelt because doing so would mean admitting that you aren't the world's greatest driver and may get into a situation where a seatbelt is required.

@Professor Voodoo wrote:Page 5: This is the teaser page you gave us earlier. "Blacker Girl"? That one's gonna come back to bite Jethro in the ass. I also note a change of pallets here...a shift to browns and reds that covers almost the whole England portion.

Sorry for the long gap...real life and a desire to work on an episode of my own have slowed my reviewing output.

Where where we...ah...sweeping the room for bugs, a staple of the secret-agent genre. I like that you've given Monty & Jethro a few minutes alone here before launching into the mass character introduction portion; it controls the pace and sets Quincy apart as Jethro's main contact.

The nightclub has a very underground feel to it...like it's a place full of people who don't wish to be noticed. Jethro calling Monty his "understudy" (during their meeting with Forrest) is clever. It establishes that if Jethro is somehow taken out of action Monty will become the new head of the operation, and he expects everyone else to listen to her.

There's a lot of homage to Ocean's 11 during the round-up sequence (I assume you're using the George Clooney version as Forrest refers to the Bellagio, which did not exist in Sinatra's day). In your story is Danny Ocean a real person, or is Noel making a joke about the movie?

I'm impressed with the job you did on Big Nick's dive hat...especially since you drew it at a different angle than the picture I provided. The girl that your two cons, Cowley & Isogawa are hitting on has a very "Audrey Hepburn" look (Henrietta will like that).

Sending Monty to recruit your computer hacker, Wharton, is that going to develop into an annoyance for her? Maybe I just love seeing her pushed outside her comfort zone.

You've pointed out apologetically that the Fairmont Hotel (well known to Kisk and I as the hotel which F1 cars pass under at 170mph on the Grand Prix weekend) does not actually have a casino, but I think that's actually a good move, as it provides you a lot more creative flexibility and saves on research.

Foreplay; I knew you were going to use it, but I still get a laugh out of how a minor detail (meant as a joke about Marisa's sexual naïveté) has taken on new life. Who knows, maybe she'll show up in another story...or maybe you'll blow her up in this one.Speaking of vehicles, great job on the Austin-Healy. The color is one I've never seen on that particular car, but it fits well with the pallet you've chosen for the last two panels.

Great work...I'm still staggered by the effort you've undertaken, and look forward to the next installment!

@Professor Voodoo wrote:Sorry for the long gap...real life and a desire to work on an episode of my own have slowed my reviewing output.

This I can relate to... I've had a bit of a push on myself regards comic work and general illustration. Been managing to push out about a page of inks a day, unfortunately that comes at the expense of, well... just about everything else internet related...

@Professor Voodoo wrote: The nightclub has a very underground feel to it...like it's a place full of people who don't wish to be noticed. Jethro calling Monty his "understudy" (during their meeting with Forrest) is clever. It establishes that if Jethro is somehow taken out of action Monty will become the new head of the operation, and he expects everyone else to listen to her.

And lets face it, in a way she needs all the help she can get... None of these people know her and confident or not, she still looks like a teenager

@Professor Voodoo wrote:There's a lot of homage to Ocean's 11 during the round-up sequence (I assume you're using the George Clooney version as Forrest refers to the Bellagio, which did not exist in Sinatra's day). In your story is Danny Ocean a real person, or is Noel making a joke about the movie?

I intend to use J&M to play on a few different genres so there's no point in hiding the inspiration, and no reason not to have some fun with it. Besides it's a pretty good way of getting a lot of people introduced quickly.

I think when I was writing the script I envisaged Ocean as being an actual person in my take on the GSG universe... the sort of universe where ridiculously contrived heists can actually happen.

@Professor Voodoo wrote:I'm impressed with the job you did on Big Nick's dive hat...especially since you drew it at a different angle than the picture I provided. The girl that your two cons, Cowley & Isogawa are hitting on has a very "Audrey Hepburn" look (Henrietta will like that).

Well... I'd just finished watching Breakfast at Tiffany's at that stage, and I'm a great fan of Audrey anyway. and yeah, I could see 'Etta being a fan of her as well, elegant and proper as she was. Always loved her narration at the start of Sabrina.

Glad the dive hat was recogniseable as well

@Professor Voodoo wrote:Sending Monty to recruit your computer hacker, Wharton, is that going to develop into an annoyance for her? Maybe I just love seeing her pushed outside her comfort zone.

Umm, this one is up in the air at the moment. I'd like to make Jax a problem for her (Harris already is, no reason not to add to her difficulties), but it hangs on whether I can figure out a way to integrate it neatly into the comic itself. One thing I'm discovering is that the comic genre is pretty restrictive in what can and can't be put in. It's more jarring switching scenes and things need a chance to get rolling. Hence these little "character" moments are having to take a bit of a back-seat to keeping the flow. exaple: Harris's little flirty moment (and Monty's subsequent brushing off of him) fit well to set a scene. How I'd let Jax have a (slightly more ham-fisted) go I'm not to sure.

@Professor Voodoo wrote:You've pointed out apologetically that the Fairmont Hotel (well known to Kisk and I as the hotel which F1 cars pass under at 170mph on the Grand Prix weekend) does not actually have a casino, but I think that's actually a good move, as it provides you a lot more creative flexibility and saves on research.

That was the thinking (plus it's nice and close to the water) You tried to find pictures of the interiors of Monaco's casinos? They're a bit thin on the ground, and what can be found looks pretty ornate... which I don't feel like drawing over and over again.

Besides, like you said: it gives me a chance to get my interior design on, which is alwyas fun

@Professor Voodoo wrote:Foreplay; I knew you were going to use it, but I still get a laugh out of how a minor detail (meant as a joke about Marisa's sexual naïveté) has taken on new life. Who knows, maybe she'll show up in another story...or maybe you'll blow her up in this one.

Unless I make a drastic change in the storyline, and since it's hardly a spoiler, I can tell you with 99.9% certainty that, this time at least, Foreplay will live to fight another day.

@Professor Voodoo wrote:Speaking of vehicles, great job on the Austin-Healy. The color is one I've never seen on that particular car, but it fits well with the pallet you've chosen for the last two panels.

Cheers mate. Yeah, it's not a common colour scheme, red's far more popular. The car here is actually based on one that one of the kids' at highschool's father owned. If I'm honest they were a pair of wankers but the car was nice. They pop up like this on Flickr if you go searching as well.

@Professor Voodoo wrote:The girl that your two cons, Cowley & Isogawa are hitting on has a very "Audrey Hepburn" look (Henrietta will like that).

Well... I'd just finished watching Breakfast at Tiffany's at that stage, and I'm a great fan of Audrey anyway. and yeah, I could see 'Etta being a fan of her as well, elegant and proper as she was. Always loved her narration at the start of Sabrina.

I base my guess (about Henrietta being a fan of Hepburn) on Chapter 20......she's refering to Roman Holiday. I think it's actually mentioned by name in the Il Teatrino anime (can anyone confirm?).

Last edited by Professor Voodoo on Sat 14 Aug 2010 - 1:13; edited 1 time in total

Wow! I saw the Deviant Art Prologues, and it is Top Notch! If it were on a comic book store, I'd BUY it! (ofcourse, it's fanfic so that's not possible) However, if you pour that talent into your own non GSG characters and story line, all I can say is: INSTANT WIN!

tremec6speed

Forum Posts : 1973

Fan of : Lauro and Olga!

Original Characters : Vinson/Helen/Salvatore + Gunther/Ayden. Baddies are a small group of 'techno-anarchists'

Comments : I hope to include a short illustrated fanfic story of both Mr. Yutaka Aida's characters as well as some I've come up with.

@tremec6speed wrote:If it were on a comic book store, I'd BUY it! (ofcourse, it's fanfic so that's not possible) However, if you pour that talent into your own non GSG characters and story line, all I can say is: INSTANT WIN!

Cheers mate, that really does mean a lot. I know we're always told "draw for yourself"... but it's nice to know that others enjoy what's doing.

I've actually tried an original comic before, but dropped it after ten pages... mostly because I just wasn't up to it at the time. There are another different set of OCs I have that I'd eventually like to do a comic with, but there more suited to a "gag a week" type format than a story.

Again... look for it on deviantART as twenty-one pages takes too long to post neatly here.

Also, pretty much bang on for a quarterly release (one day early), kinda happy about that.

If you've not guessed, I've had a bit of a push on with this... hence why my reviewing of other folks stuff has been lacking. Why? Because I wanted to avoid what happend last time: getting almost done then having to stop for over a month to deal with assignments. Practical upshot here though is the next issue could take awhile longer because the next few weeks are going to be uni focused.

Monty sure seems very comfortable in her role. Is she really that good, or did Jethro prep her well so she'd appear that good and therefore make the rest of the team feel comfortable with her being there?

Glad to see the turquoise outfit from your Outfitters thread make it. It's my second favorite of her after the YSL.

The hazy clifftop view overlooking Monaco & the French Riviera establishes the tone and color pallet wonderfully. I think the outdoor scenes are my favorite...I can almost feel the Mediterranean sun because of the effect your light, almost washed out pastels give.

Monty sure seems very comfortable in her role. Is she really that good, or did Jethro prep her well so she'd appear that good and therefore make the rest of the team feel comfortable with her being there?

Glad to see the turquoise outfit from your Outfitters thread make it. It's my second favorite of her after the YSL.

Cheers mate.

Yeah, Monty is pretty comfortable in her role. Remember the Monaco heist occurs a bit into J+M's time together. It's definately not the first job they've run, possibly the most complex but not the first so Monty's had practice.

More to the point though: this is what she does, day to day, week to week. Unlike the girls operating from the SWA, Monty's life isn't broken up into distinct "training, working, downtime" style periods. She's basically on the job 24/7 and so has gotten quite good at it (the flipside of course being that she's weaker in the "traditional" cyborg roles that she doesn't get the chance to train for on a regular basis). Jethro's the creative ideas man of the pair, Monty's the nit-picker and problem solver. In my head at least that's her major strengh: the ability to think her way through things, to take a load of disparate information, turn it into a logical conclusion then act on that. It's like Triela and CQB, Marisa and diving or Allison and driving... though in Monty's case it was more down to blind luck and good cyborg candidate selection than specialised conditioning.

The downside of that is that she considers much of the rest of the planet to be too slow to get an opinion and it frustrates her at times when other people can't keep up: "Why has it taken you mob three hours to argue your way to the conclusion I reached in the first five minutes?" A lot of her self-confidence comes from the fact that, at any particular time, she can be resonably certain she's the sharpest person in the room.

In some ways I think that comes down to my own preference for characters who get through on smarts and hard work rather than any technical kind of advantage (ironic that I was drawn to GSG with its super-powered cyborgs, but there you have it). People who do the best with what they have.

Thehazy clifftop view overlooking Monaco & the French Rivieraestablishes the tone and color pallet wonderfully. I think the outdoorscenes are my favorite...I can almost feel the Mediterranean sunbecause of the effect your light, almost washed out pastels give.

Looking forward to the rest!

yeeah... I got halfway through posting and realised I'd saved everything in a higher quality jpg than I'd normally use. However I was too lazy to go back and change it... so my bad. Also of course, one of the first things to go when you reduce jpg quality are the more subtle colour changes... so you'd loose all those toneing effects